8A
KMUN show discusses Port petition
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The Committee to Restore, Revitalize
and Reorganize the Port of Astoria, which
-
has starting collecting signatures.
event today, with former Port Commis-
sioners Ric Gerttula, Jack Bland and Jim
Bergeron appearing on KMUN Coast
Community Radio on the “Fridays with
Jim” program to talk with host Jim
Wilkins about the measure.
“Unfortunately, for many years the
expectation has been that bringing on
a new executive director will somehow
reform a dysfunctional Board of Com-
missioners,” read a question-and-an-
swer document written by members of
the committee. “Obviously this has not
worked. This is not the role of an exec-
utive director and has resulted in several
each time a manager tries to redirect the
commission to follow good governance
practices and strategic plans.
“Only by changing who has over-
sight of the commission can we expect
to change this culture of micro- and
self-serving management.”
The initiative petition on the Secretary
-
ESTAR asks: “Shall the Port of Astoria
restore, revitalize and reorganize into a
locally coordinated, governor appointed
Board of Commissioners?”
-
ber on ORESTAR is 17199. It must
gather signatures equal to 15 percent the
number of Clatsop County voters who
voted for governor in 2010, about 2,200.
The committee must submit its signa-
to the May 19 election, giving them until
around Feb. 19.
If there’s a ballot measure
A “yes” vote, says the ballot measure
summary, changes the name of the Port
of Astoria to the Port of Clatsop County,
and changes the selection of the Port’s
commissioners from election by Clat-
sop County voters to appointment by the
governor. A “no” vote retains the present
form of elected government.
If the initiative petition becomes a
ballot measure in May or in subsequent
elections and is passed by voters, the
-
ed by the governor from a list of names
submitted by each of the city councils in
Astoria, Warrenton, Gearhart, Seaside,
Cannon Beach, along with the Clatsop
County Board of Commissioners. Other
raise money, and that personal interests
often trump the needs of the entire tax-
payer district of Clatsop County.
-
didates from the list of recommended
names — a maximum of two from each
city council and from the county com-
mission — to serve four-year terms, the
terms initially being staggered. Existing
Port commissioners would serve out the
remainder of their terms and could apply
for reappointment. The governor would
also have the power to remove a Port
commissioner for malfeasance.
All other Port district authority, in-
cluding existing bonding authority,
would remain the same.
Arguments for, against
candidates would be performed by no
Former Port commissioners and
South County mayors have voiced their
displeasure with the Port’s management
in letters to the editor, while existing
Port commissioners and attendees at Port
meetings have criticized the committee’s
efforts to make representatives appoint-
ed by the governor rather than elected by
voters. The ports of Portland and Coos
Bay are the other two state-appointed
commissions in Oregon.
The Clatsop County Democrats over-
whelmingly passed their own two reso-
lutions in November, one opposing the
idea of making Port commissioners ap-
committee contends that the current elec-
toral process is a popularity contest based
on name recognition and the ability to
commissioner positions from county-
wide to match county commissioner
districts.
In its question-and-answer sheet,
the committee said that the nonpartisan
Price: Renovation of libray is
another sensitive policy issue
Continued from Page 1A
sent of the City Council.
LaMear has said that the
council could discuss the mat-
ter as part of a conversation
on developing council rules. A
work session on new council
rules has been scheduled after
the council meeting Tuesday.
Price sees some urgency.
“The thing is, there are a
lot of appointments available
right now,” she said. “And
standard of service that we
within our budgetary and,
I guess, geographical con-
straints?”
For a new councilor who
has made transparency a pri-
ority, the drunken-driving is-
sue may present some thorns.
While, legally, Price does
on the DUII issue, a few critics
have implied she faces at least
-
cause of her husband’s advo-
cacy, a notion Price dismisses.
Price said she has had a
longtime interest in public safe-
ty and justice. She and Marquis
board talking about the mix of
race, justice and politics sur-
rounding former football star
O.J. Simpson’s murder trial.
“I just don’t think of it as a
There’s zilch.”
Library location
Another sensitive policy
issue before the City Council
is the renovation of the library.
LaMear, a former librarian,
has supported an expansion of
the library into the vacant, pri-
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
Cindy Price has served several roles at KMUN including
on the board of directors and interim general manager in
2001. Price now volunteers as a radio host about once a
month hosting Wednesday Afternoon Music.
vately owned Waldorf Hotel,
also known as the Merwyn.
Price said she has told the
mayor that she needs more de-
tail about the plan. “My basic
position is: not enough infor-
mation,” she said. “I really do
just need more information.”
hear more about the structural
stability of the Waldorf Hotel,
see architectural renderings
of the library expansion, and
view an analysis of potentially
increasing the library’s budget.
Price said she might enter-
tain other ideas, such as the one-
time talk of a land swap with the
American Legion to relocate the
library to Heritage Square.
“I don’t want another hole
in the ground,” Price said,
cleanup at the former Safe-
way site at Heritage Square.
“So if the Merwyn is going to
be demolished or torn down
at any point, I would really
prefer that not be done until
rebuilding (of the library) is
going to start immediately.”
Making appointments
Price, like Councilor Drew
Herzig, believes mayoral ap-
pointments to the city’s boards
and commissions should be
subject to the advice and con-
those things right now, with
three-to-four year terms, it’s
kind of equivalent to stacking
the Supreme Court.
“So I trust that she will
listen to us, take our sugges-
tions, and work it that way.”
A ‘salonical’?
Doug Thompson, a former
councilor who used to repre-
sent Ward 3, appreciated that
Price was holding the “salon-
icals” to get public feedback.
“She’s a smart person,” he
said. “And I think she’s going
about it in a very deliberate
fashion. And that’s all you can
expect. She’s a volunteer.”
So exactly what is a “salo-
nical”?
“It just means political sa-
lon,” Price said. “And I liked
the idea more than ‘meet and
greet,’ which always sounds
to me more like, I don’t know,
meat and potatoes or some-
thing.”
Field: Bleachers will stay standing
Continued from Page 1A
accidentally left out of the
original transfer. The school
board also needed to transfer
the bus barn property adjacent
The bill of sale doc-
uments that the proper-
ty now belongs to CMH.
Hoppes said the district,
which has already handed
over the keys, has to clear
all its remaining belong-
ings by Feb. 13 or March
2 —mostly clothes, white-
boards, tires and other
odds and ends — and still
has to hand over construc-
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 2015
Schools: Crafting the
budget is like playing
Whac-A-Mole
Continued from Page 1A
Attendees
included
board members and super-
intendents from Astoria,
Knappa, Warrenton and
Clatsop Community Col-
lege; representatives from
the Northwest Regional
Education Service District
(NWRESD); Head Start
and other youth programs;
and parents.
“We have a desire to
dream big,” said Super-
intendent Mark Jeffery of
the Warrenton-Hammond
School District, adding
that $7.875 billion over the
2015-17 biennium for edu-
cation is the benchmark to
help schools in Oregon ex-
pand and invest.
The 2013-15 biennium
included $6.65 billion for
the state school fund, 39.7
percent of the state budget
and a 14.6 percent increase
from the previous bienni-
um. However, it was a far
cry from the 2003-05 bien-
nium, when the state school
fund equaled 44.8 percent
of the budget.
“We would like to see
that upward trend contin-
ue,” said Jeffery about last
biennium’s increase in ed-
ucational funding, pointing
out some stark realities
about Oregon’s priorities:
It spends 88 percent of the
national average per pupil
on K-12 education, ranks
46th in state expenditures
on K-12 as a percentage of
state taxable resources and
is 49th in student-to-teach-
er ratio, with six more stu-
dents per teacher than the
national average.
Increases felt, needed
Astoria School Board
Chairman Martin Dursse
said that from 2008 to 2012,
his district cut $2 million
from the budget. The addi-
tional money the last two
years helped decrease class
sizes, add instructional days
for students and purchase
new technology, he added.
But to make future invest-
ments, such as aligning its
curriculum with the new
Common Core State Stan-
dards and promoting career
and technical education, it
needs money to invest.
Jeff Leo, who serves as
superintendent and princi-
pal of the middle and high
schools in Knappa, said
his district cut more than
$743,000 over the same
period in a much small-
er district, including the
equivalent of 10 full-time
employees. To keep its
class offerings, it has had
to blend multiple grades
together and freeze staff
years.
To update its curricu-
lum, it has had to ask for
$30,000 a year from the
Knappa Schools Founda-
tion for materials. “But
we can only do that for so
long.”
Leo and Jeffery both
said that $7.5 billion for the
2015-17 biennium would
help. But that doesn’t take
into consideration the de-
ferred maintenance dis-
tricts have put off to save
money over the years, said
Jeffery.
“Really, none of us are
operating on sustainable
budgets,” he said. “You
things get frightening.”
Competing needs
The governor’s pro-
posed 2015-17 budget,
released last month, in-
cluded $6.914 billion for
education, including $240
million for the statewide
introduction of full-day
kindergarten and a focus on
early learning and helping
third grade. School lead-
ers have said that amount
could lead to budget, staff
and program cuts.
The budget from the
chairmen of the Oregon
House and Senate, re-
leased earlier this week,
upped the ante to $7.24
billion including full-day
kindergarten — an im-
provement, said Jeffery,
but still not enough.
“This is going to be a
Sen. Johnson, later echoed
by Rep. Boone. “We are
zero sum in terms of reve-
nue.”
Crafting the budget is
like playing Whac-A-Mole,
added Johnson, with com-
peting needs for money
constantly popping up and
taking away from anoth-
er. The governor’s budget,
she added, focuses on pre-
kindergarten to third grade
to the relative exclusion of
other groups, up to commu-
nity colleges.
“It is the May revenue
forecast that is the north
budget is put together,” said
Johnson, adding that the
legislators will almost cer-
tainly be done by July.
The legislators told the
audience to keep engaged
through interest groups
such as the Confederation
of School Administrators,
Oregon Community Col-
leges Association and the
NWRESD.
The Oregon Legislative
Information System, they
said, provides a way to
keep up-to-date on legisla-
tive developments. OLIS
can be found at http://bit.
ly/15d7jee
tion drawings for the site.
Bleachers stay up
CMH will initially use the
-
mer John Warren Field for
parking, construction begin-
ning in the spring.
The bleachers of John War-
ren Field, said Hoppes, will
also stay standing, for when
they have events such as con-
certs. John Warren Field was
eyed in 2011 as a possible lo-
cation of the Reba McEntire
concert for Astoria’s bicen-
tennial celebration — with a
turnout of around 6,000, it was
one of the largest concerts in
EDWARD STRATTON — The Daily Astorian
The Astoria School Board voted Wednesday night to final-
ize a bill of sale to Columbia Memorial Hospital on the John
Warren Field and adjacent bus barn and practice field.
county history. The idea was
dropped because the school
board forbade alcohol sales on
school property.
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
Rep. Deborah Boone, left, and Sen. Betsy Johnson
listen to community concerns during the legislative
forum at the Capt. Robert Gray School Thursday.
Mater: There is a precedent for the removal of commission members
Continued from Page 1A
Mater leads an engineering
-
tion by Kitzhaber to the com-
mission, which oversees the
Oregon Department of Trans-
the Oregon Senate in May.
Although commission mem-
is precedent for their remov-
al. When Neil Goldschmidt
became governor in 1987, he
members to resign — which
replacements who were con-
the same factors that led to her
opposition last summer remain
today.
“There is no ambiguity in the
Berth 2 project being connected
to coal,” said Mater, who was
the last of more than 40 who
“Anybody who says this proj-
ect is not a coal project … is not
correct.”
Mater said when she vot-
ed against state funding for the
project last summer, neither Am-
bre Energy nor the port provided
documentation to back a stated
commitment of $3 million.
“They simply did not in-
wherewithal,” she said.
She also said the proposed
renovation was not ready for
construction, as the Connect
Oregon guidelines require. She
said the Department of State
Lands informed the port that
a renewed lease would be re-
quired for Berth 2, “because the
current lease did not accommo-
date transloading options.”
Ambre Energy ran into a
road block when the Depart-
ment of State Lands, in a sepa-
rate matter, rejected a permit for
a coal-loading dock Ambre En-
ergy seeks at the Port of Morrow
in Boardman. The dock would
enable coal mined in the Pow-
der River Basin in Wyoming
and Montana and taken via rail
to Boardman to be loaded onto
barges headed for Clatskanie.
Ambre Energy is appealing
that decision, which will come
before an administrative law
judge on Dec. 7.
During much of the hear-
ing, the commission also heard
mostly familiar arguments for
and against the Port of St. Hel-
ens project.
A few say that renovation of
the 70-year-old dock would en-
able the port to handle oceango-
ing cargoes of all types and cre-
ate jobs and economic activity.
Others say that the project is
a proxy for the debate over coal
exports, and that coal and train
public health questions.
Mater, in a brief interview
after the hearing, said she does
not know which way the Feb. 19
vote will go.
Joining her last summer
against funding for the Port of
St. Helens project were mem-
bers Dave Lohman of Medford
and Alando Simpson of Port-
land. Baney and Susan Mor-
gan, a Douglas County com-
missioner, voted for funding
the project.
Their action left $40.3 mil-
lion divided among 36 other
projects, including renovation of
Berth 1 at the Port of St. Helens
for shipments of crude oil.
“Some commission mem-
bers do believe that once the
review panel has given its bless-
ing, this commission has no au-
thority to go back and look at the
details,” Mater said. “I certainly
did not feel that way. This is at a
higher level. I have done the best
I can.”
She said the review panel
-
cluding Tony Hyde, a Columbia
County commissioner who tes-
who advocate for funding.